


A Break in the Temple

by Merfilly



Series: Padawan Plight [10]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Interlude
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-09-09 00:11:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8868478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: Ahsoka is glad to see Barriss... but why is Barriss so tense?





	

Ahsoka didn't know why or how it had been so long since she had seen Barriss. The war had been hard, and she had run into some disturbing incidents, the most recent of which had left her scarred, because she'd failed to protect one of the younglings. She had numbly gone to quarters, barely aware when Anakin stuck her in Obi-Wan's bed to sleep it off. (Really, they weren't all ever in the Temple, so she got why Skyguy's master still lived with them, but it felt awkward when she would rather have the couch.)

Waking, though, even as pained as her soul felt, her first thought was of Barriss. She reached, as she had done so many times in their separation, and was overwhelmed by how close her lover was. She gasped, sitting up in the bed, which of course drew Skyguy into the room with her.

"Are you alright, Sn — Ahsoka?"

Ahsoka tried not to frown. Ever since that planet, Skyguy had been weird about her taking risks, and had cut himself off from calling her 'Snips'. It felt strained between them, and she didn't like it, but she hadn't been able to corner him on it.

"I'm fine… well, I need the 'fresher and a shower, and probably a steak…" she said as she swung her legs out of the bed. She didn't say the 'and go see my girlfriend'. "I know I'm off duty for a full week, according to Knight Nimpur, but you don't have to keep me company, if you have things to do. Like, oh, maybe go see what's happening in the Senate for our men?"

It was the closest she could get to telling him to go see the woman he was crazy about without admitting she knew what was going on there.

"You sure? I mean, once we got the worst of the dirt off you, you were pretty pale," Anakin said, frowning at her.

"How much trouble can I get into here in the Temple, Skyguy?" she whined at him, before grinning.

"Apparently, based on all Master Plo has shared, quite a lot. But I hear you, Ahsoka. I wouldn't want Obi-Wan looming over me during my medical leave either." Anakin turned and left her to her own devices as she headed for the shared 'fresher.

By the time she was clean and dressed, Anakin was gone, leaving Ahsoka to pad out of the room on bare feet in search of Barriss. She'd put clean leggings on, but opted for a belted robe over fighting with a tunic when she realized that all of her lekku felt too sensitive to move through that process.

The feeling of Barriss's presence guided her to one of the smaller meditation chambers that overlooked the gardens, and Ahsoka felt a brief worry. If Barriss was in Temple, shouldn't she be studying with the healers?

"Barriss?"

The Mirialan tensed, her back to the door, before slowly turning. Ahsoka's instincts told her there was something off about the flow in the Force, but then Barriss smiled and reached for her hand, making the younger woman push it away. 

"I missed your advancement celebration," Barriss said softly. Ahsoka was doing so well, and had reached that mark in record time.

"So did I," Ahsoka admitted as she settled beside her, thinking of what she had been doing when word of her official promotion to a Senior Padawan came. "I haven't actually seen you since your Name Day." That sat heavily on her, though they had enjoyed the sharing of a Mirialan treat from Luminara, given in honor of Barriss turning twenty. Ahsoka still wasn't certain if Anakin had known about the Name Day, or if Luminara had requested her aid because she knew, or what. She'd just been glad to curl with her partner through a quiet night, and fight at her side the next day.

The extent to which either or both masters were ignoring the relationship while furthering it sometimes made Ahsoka wonder about things, but she took advantage of it when she could.

"Are you staying here?" Barriss asked, and Ahsoka had the oddest feeling Barriss was hoping she wasn't. She kept the impression behind her teeth, out of her face and lekku, and smiled warmly.

"Five days before I am clear for duty, with all that happened."

Now Barriss frowned and the tension shifted. "All that happened?"

"You don't know I was missing?" Ahsoka asked, sitting beside her lover so their knees were touching.

"No!" 

Ahsoka settled in and started telling the whole story… even the parts that made her start shaking all over again. By the end of the tale, Barriss had flipped the lock on the meditation room and lowered the privacy shield over the window to the garden, all of her emotional focus on her lover and friend rather than whatever it was that Ahsoka had first detected in her.

When she finished, Ahsoka pressed into the slender arms holding her close, letting the last of the tremors die down. She wasn't ashamed of her reactions, not in the least. Seeing those younglings fall so far from the Jedi way to survive had hurt; it was as if she were seeing what the Order might become, if this war kept up like it had gone so far. And Kalifa's death had been a blow; Ahsoka had tried to do everything right, and still had lost the girl.

"My master is not in Temple. Stay with me?" Barriss offered.

"Pretty sure Skyguy won't notice, even if he comes back from wherever he decided to go," Ahsoka said honestly. "So yeah, if you want me there."

"I do."

+++

Barriss shifted away from Ahsoka in the bed, relieved when her lover remained asleep. It was also worrying, but apparently sleep deprivation did actually hit Togruta on occasion. She went and sat in the window box of her quarters, grateful as ever for an exterior room. She looked out over the lights of the city, clad only in a light robe… too short for her. It made her smile to realize she'd picked up Ahsoka's robe instead of her own.

She had wanted to talk to Ahsoka about the thoughts and recent interactions she had had, but feeling Ahsoka's lingering upset had sidetracked her.

And then they had spoke, just after dinner.

_"If you are so worried about what the Jedi could become, based on those younglings, what will you do now?"_

_"Try harder, of course," Ahsoka had answered. "The Jedi need to heal, but they can't until the war ends. So I will go back out there with my master, and try to find Tyranus and Grievous and kick their butts so we can end this."_

_"It takes two sides to make a war," Barriss had argued._

_"Yes, but the Jedi won't make the mistake of previous wars. They'll refuse to punish the aggressors. And keep the Senate in check from trying it."_

//I wish I had your faith, Ahsoka, but all I can see is the corruption pervading all of us now. I tried your way. I have to find a new one.//

+++

As Ahsoka slept, the convor fluttered in worry behind the barriers the Son had placed her in by infecting the small Jedi. She would escape though, and try to help her chosen one from being lost in the storm ahead.


End file.
